Is Huang A Master Spy Or Just A Friendly Guy?

Senate Investigators Still Can't Say

July 19, 1997|By DAVID LIGHTMAN; Washington Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON — Is John Huang a Washington version of James Bond or just a guy who liked to bond with others?

Halfway through the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's July look at whether foreign money was raised illegally during the 1996 campaign, no one has conclusively proven what Huang may have been up to.

Chairman Fred Thompson, R- Tenn., likes to describe his hearings as a series of building blocks, puzzle pieces that will eventually evolve into a striking image.

And thus far, Thompson said of the evidence presented at his hearings, `I'm troubled by what I see,'' and that Huang was a ``conduit'' for foreign money. But Democrats tend to believe he was just an ambitious guy doing what half the people in this city tend to do: networking so he could land a high-level government job.

Republicans have produced lots of records of Huang's telephone calls to his former employers and visits to the Chinese embassy and a special, private office. They portray him as the man with the Midas fund-raising touch.

``If he was a spy,'' Durbin wondered, ``isn't it curious he would leave not only a paper trail, but a paper freeway?''

It is therefore safe to say at this point that the scriptwriters of this drama are still at work, hoping to sell their own personal plots to a public that is skeptical, uninterested, baffled or a combination of all three.

Here, then, are the storylines the two sides are trying to develop:

* Fact: On Aug. 17, 1992, Huang asked Lippo, the Indonesian banking conglomerate that employed him at the time, to ``kindly wire'' money to his attention. Some of the money would be used for a $50,000 contribution to the Democratic Party.

Republicans: Agreed with Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., that the episode ``certainly looks like the movement of foreign money into an American campaign in 1992.''

Democrats: Returned the contribution Tuesday after it was disclosed at the hearing.

* Fact: On Feb. 17, 1993, Maeley Tom, then administrative director for the California Senate, sent a letter to John Emerson, White House deputy personnel director, with a list of candidates for jobs.

Huang, she wrote, ``is the political power that advises the Riady family (founders of Lippo) on issues and where to make contributions. They invested heavily in the Clinton campaign.

``John is the Riady family's top priority for placement because he is like one of their own.''

Democrats: Gary A. Christopherson, a White House personnel official who recommended Huang be hired, said he did no research on any Lippo ties and felt no pressure from the Democratic National Committee to find Huang a position.

Republicans: GOP members said Lippo wanted Huang in a sensitive government position. They pointed out that Huang made hundreds of telephone calls to Lippo or people with Lippo connections after he got hired at Commerce.

* Fact: On Jan. 31, 1994, while still working for Lippo, Huang got an interim top-secret clearance, giving him access to sensitive government information. There was no thorough background check.

Democrats: Paul A. Buskirk, a Commerce security official, said such clerances were routine at the time.

Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, saw no reason to question the clearance.``Is there a connection between his having a clearance and passing classified information?'' Glenn asked. ``That's a connection I have not yet seen.''

Republicans: Buskirk noted in his approval memo that Huang got the clearance ``due to the critical need for his expertise in the new administration for [former Commerce Secretary Ronald H.] Brown.''

Because he had this clearance, said Thompson, ``He clearly had access to information that would have been, theoretically, of interest to Lippo.''

* Fact: On June 27, 1994, as he was coming to work at Commerce, Huang got a $425,625 bonus from Lippo. His salary at Commerce would be far less than he made at Lippo.

Republicans: Members suggested that because Lippo wanted Huang in the government, the bank gave him enough money so that he would not suffer financially. ``Doesn't that raise any concerns in your mind?'' Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked witnesses.

Democrats: Glenn thought this was much ado about nothing. ``He didn't try to hide this,'' he said.

* Fact: Huang worked for Commerce for 18 months beginning in mid-1994, and received 37 briefings from Central Intelligence Agency officials. He saw at least 370 raw intelligence reports on Asia, including China.

Republicans: Huang got his briefings after Jeffrey Garten, commerce undersecretary and a Huang supervisor, said his employee was ``totally unqualified'' for an agency policy job. John H. Dickerson, the CIA briefer, said he was unaware of Garten's views.

Democrats: Employees at Huang's level routinely get such briefings, often more frequently. Dickerson said he had no reason to question Huang's motives, and in fact found ``he was a reasonably passive customer.''